Film is one of the most original media of the 20th century and is simultaneously a document of time and an art form as well as an economic force. Although it can be reproduced as a medium, film material itself is threatened by decay. And it is for this reason that a large part of the early history of movies has been lost forever.

Nevertheless, cinematographic science is dependent on reliable sources both in a philological as well as a technical sense. Cinemas and television stations are looking for optimal copies and accompanying materials. Copyrights must be clarified and adhered to.
Because trade in the rights to audio-visual products - which have become an important sector of the industry - is continually raising new questions in the era of digital media.

Thus saving and preserving, restoring and reconstructing movies, making them accessible to the public, permitting enquiries and securing rights to films and protecting them from unauthorised exploitation, is becoming an increasingly important issue.
One of the most important German institutions fulfilling these tasks is the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation, based in Wiesbaden.

The Foundation received her name in memory of the great director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1888 – 1931) who helped the German cinema in the 1920s, with films like NOSFERATU (1922), DER LETZTE MANN (1924), TARTÜFF (1925) or FAUST (1926), to be renown world wide. Murnau's works produced in Germany are conserved and taken care of by the Foundation as well as thousands of other films, produced between 1900 and 1960, which form a major part of the German film heritage.

One of the constitutional tasks of the Murnau Foundation is the promotion of film and political education. The foundation-owned film archive is available to the general public. Support is provided for students, graduate students studying for a doctorate, post-doctorate students and other professionals from academia and/or cultural fields, who fulfil the purpose of the foundation.